As the insurance industry in the U.S. faces more changes, and the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) remains in question, Hollis Cobb continues to look for ways to help providers work with their self-pay populations as well as cope with the higher deductibles due from insured patients. The Hollis Cobb team constantly reviews service offerings, such as Early-Out collections, looking for ways to improve our processes to attract new clients. The team also answers the call from existing clients to develop new services that will help strengthen and streamline their revenue cycles, bringing in more dollars faster.
UNINSURED PATIENTS
Recent news reports reveal some additional challenges to providers as they service their self-pay populations while trying to maintain healthy revenues. Although the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate a reduction of approximately one million people nationwide from the uninsured rolls, the number of patients in Georgia with no insurance still remains among the highest in the U.S., behind Texas, Alaska and Oklahoma. The highest uninsured rate nationally is among 26-year-olds who have recently fallen off their parents’ plans.
ACA EXCHANGES TO INCREASE PREMIUMS
In addition, this week, The Georgia Department of Insurance announced that it would accept the 2018 premium increases proposed by the state’s four ACA insurance exchanges:
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s premium rate increase will be the highest averaging 57.5%.
- Ambetter of Peach State will implement an average premium rate hike of 51%.
- The Kaiser Foundation Health Plan average premium increase will be 56.7%.
- Alliant, which serves North Georgia patients, will have a premium hike averaging 53.3%
The rate hikes accepted by the State of Georgia must still be approved by the federal government.
FUTURE OF ACA IN GEORGIA?
The ACA exchanges provide health plans for individuals and families who do not have job-based or government insurance coverage. According to the Georgia Department of Insurance, approximately 500,000 Georgians participated in the exchanges in the last year. In the past, nearly 85% of the participants in Georgia have received subsidies or discounts from the government to assist in the payments of their premiums; however the current instability of the ACA leaves the status of future subsidies and discounts in question. Open enrollment for the Georgia ACA exchanges begins November 1 and ends December 15.
HOLLIS COBB SELF-PAY EARLY-OUT SOULTIONS
One of the most successful ways Hollis Cobb clients have found to manage their self-pay accounts is placement in our Early-Out department. Accounts are scrubbed upon placement for bankruptcy, deceased and insurance, and segmented accordingly for proper action. Representatives in our Accounts Resolution Department have access to multiple client systems so that they can file insurance and follow up on each account for resolution. True self-pay accounts are scored for propensity to pay and assigned a letter and customer service call diligence according to their score. We have found this to be the most effective way to generate maximum dollars from each client’s inventory.
Additionally, we offer a variety of front-end services from pre-authorization, to scheduling assistance, to customer service overflow calls. Hollis Cobb leaders are constantly looking for ways to partner with our clients to improve revenue cycle management and enhance the patient experience at each client facility.
